Yeah.
Hello and welcome to
a special edition of Sports rap I am your host Frank Walsh and as you can see I'm
flying solo today because my usual co-host and friend Michael wick door has
graciously allowed me to sit here by myself today because I have
a very special guest and I believe you are going to find him and his story very
interesting because a professional boxer started off at
a young age and through the journey of his life became addicted to
opiates and as we all know it is
a terrible scourge that is infecting our cities and towns in our country
and since then Mike had an amazing journey of addiction to
recovery and he is here today to walk us through that story and hopefully you can
learn from this and you can share this with someone who may have an affliction of
this kind so it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Mr Mike Morgan alley
Mike. How are you my friend good good how are you I am well thank you so much for
coming on here today thanks for having you know and you know you and I chatted off
camera we met
a week or so ago and I just found your story very very moving because as I said
during the introduction opiate addiction drug addiction is really
a scourge and it affects
a lot of people and it is in lightning to have heard your story
and hopefully you can share some of your stories about how you discovered this
disease or it discovered you and then how you rebounded from it and how you can
help other people going forward well yeah well that's just it you know I wanted to
share my experience strength and hope you know because addiction is
a tough thing to go through it's
a tough thing for families to try and understand it's
a very painful thing and. You know I'm basically here to say that you can have
victory over it having accomplished the dreams and you can do anything you set your
mind to it well it's kind of walk down that path
a little bit I know you started boxing at
a young age so I wanted to kind of tell your story
a little bit about how you get into boxing and how you moved on and I'll just jump
in where I need to really my brother and I we we started boxing like really young
maybe five six and my father got us involved in the sport and I mean just took this
cross the country you know fight in. You know amateur boxing and I know that's
that's what we did when we were younger and I just kind of became normal to us and
I've had probably one hundred amateur fights or so and you have some some
accomplishments and some medals along the way as well yeah yeah I want to couple
a national titles Invitational national titles and my brother had won four and
we just we just motivated each other and we were tired of the sport and we were
just kids growing up in the sport just just your average kids. And then along the
way your life kind of took a little bit of
a detour Yeah you know I mean you know growing up you just you go to the things
that normal kids kind of go through you know and. As you know we started to
you know get
a little bit older we you know I tended to get you know rebellious and things like
that you know. But but first you know I did I ended up having my my first
professional fight eighteen I turned pro and I got
a win you know my brother was seven and I was
a pro and what had happened was you know I you know as
a kid I just kind of dabbled here and they had just you know. Just here and there
and. After the age of eighteen after I made my pro debut it would be style bold
double what and dabbled with just you know just just small stuff made
a little bit we call peers here and there stuff like that but it wasn't you know it
wasn't anything that was too frequent were really mean and you know I just had my
periods and then you know I made my pro debut I fought and after my pro debut it
just it went from just kind of
a casual thing here and there. And every day thing I mean oxy cotton. Hit the area
that I grew up with like really really high and you are a local guy
a local guy to Massachusetts Yeah you know I'm currently reside in Weymouth you
know I went to Whitman Hanson I don't want to Holbrook I
a little bit you know. Like I said Aussie cotton just kind of hit.
They hit the streets hard and you know when I did it come to you would you go to
with. A little bit of both I would say like in my teenage years you know as you
know just kind of at that stage of kind of just rebellion and things like that in
looking for comfort I guess in all the wrong places you know. I started to dabble
in like I said which was a once in
a great while typing turned into an everyday thing and morally I just started to
deteriorate and my whole lifestyle started to change and that took you away from
boxing you get out of boxing you couldn't do it you couldn't do the training boxing
was just the last thing on my mind at that time you know that drug kind of just you
know. I was so dominant in my life at that time where boxing school.
Jobs I mean everything just kind it took
a backseat and like I said I just was just was
a downhill spiral from then you know and I understand that you had some family
issues as well you know relative to drugs and even though your parents were very
supportive and probably try to work through this with you. You know you are
surrounded by by the disease if you would or the affliction Yeah I mean and you
know. In my you know my my whole family
a lot of us went through the you know had those struggles in which was hard because
you know. I don't want to say that it's it's
a normal way to grow up you know and not to say all the years were bad just. You
know you know not to say all the years are bad but you know it really did take
its toll on on us you know and things you know started to change definitely in the
household and not only that you know with other relatives as well you know so now
we know that you know drugs in those situations I mean they obviously consume you
and obviously the drugs and everything cost money and you know from some
experiences that I've had and information that I have it's you know. You go
out after your friends quit after your family and you're basically lies steal cheat
beg borrow to do anything to get that high did you experience that as well and I
did I really wish that I could get into this stuff without having to really shed
a negative light but this is just kind of what addiction does it's what it is you
know I mean I became very manipulative stealing lying cheating right living
a dishonest lifestyle Sellon doing things that I just shouldn't have been doing.
That stuff it just weighed
a heavy toll on me you know it's when you're under the influence I mean you're
completely numb you know and it didn't affect me that I was under the influence but
the accumulation of time accumulation
a year is just the guilt and you know I just was so I mean it's all the while
knowing you know. You just wake up some mornings and it's just overwhelming to my
own guilt and some of the feelings I was going through and thinking about some of
the things I did and how that just wasn't me and you know like I said manipulating
family members and friends and you know I just really became
a person who I wasn't and I was I felt like I was just kind of being held captive
by the drug you know and you know along the way you know I'm sure that there were
times where you know these feelings of guilt and you know probably you know
hopelessness and probably poor self-image and all that did you try to reach out at
times and did you try to beat it along the way and will have many successes and
then failures you know my family we did grow up going to church and things like
that and that was you know some of the really strong points you know and I had
a we had
a good foundation you know. We kind of stopped going I stopped going you know.
And then I experience what I had to experience and stuff like that but you know I
so I had points of you know I had roots of my Christianity that were planted but it
just it never became real to me until I went through the shadows that I had to go
through and that's when my faith really started to become real to me but yeah no I
had points of just helplessness and hopelessness that I went through and you really
have to reach that point you have to reach that point of just you know like I came
to
a point where in the morning I'd wake up and I you know was cook so consumed with guilt
and I said to myself you know I'm not doing this I would throw out drug dealers
phone numbers and put
a couple days together of you know being clean and then I'd literally run outside
and be rippin ripping trash bags open to get those numbers again or it just
basically just kind of shows that you're just at war with yourself and that
struggle with the in
a minute I mean like I really didn't want to do it you know and then when I would
get the drugs I remember there was times I was using intervene Asli and I would
literally be crying after I did the drug because it wasn't doing its trick for me
anymore or it wasn't given mean you know relief anymore you know it wasn't fun
anymore it was dependency and the fact that I couldn't do it that I couldn't stop
really really took its toll on me that I just wasn't calling the shots and I you
know I don't want to see victim because we have choices but I was at
a point in my drug use where I just couldn't say no and I had to be at that point.
Any suicidal thoughts. Not really where I wanted to her myself but I didn't want to
live you know it was like I was just every day waking up living to get the next one
you know just to use and get high again and when I was high like I said I was numb
but I was always left with those feelings the next day and that's
a reality that you have to come to in. You know it's it's to be honest it's
a good place to be and if I can elaborate
a little bit on that short to sure you know I wanted to bring up
a passage I believe it's at the. The end of second Corinthians where the apostle
Paul was going through his afflictions and he said that he has sought the Lord
three times that it would depart from him in the Lord said something that was very
profound He said Paul My grace is sufficient for the for my strength is made
perfect in weakness you know I had to be at that point of brokenness and weakness
you know to even be willing to seek after God Again I mean let's I mean let's just
face it you know that's something that you you know we don't normally desire you
know I only like I said God was
a last stop on the block for me you know I want to try to fix everything myself you
know whether it was medication or trying to stay busy and things like that but I
was in I was facing an opponent that was too big for me that I I couldn't be you
know my own and I had to be beaten down to the point of weakness and just being in
awe to disappear before I was willing to really reach out and that's when I really
think that all the magic released out of the Happened to me but you know you shared
a story to me when we were talking earlier and one of the powerful things that you
said to me is that you know I was sharing
a personal experience that I have someone you know in my life who's fighting opiate
addiction yet and. When I was talking to you and telling you
a little bit of that story you just kind of shook your head and said something to
the effect of like. Now he's going to make it he's not going to make it and you
said something to the effect that if you think that you can beat the sheer self
it's going to be you. And then I'd also ask you about that is that when you get to
that point you know everyone has to hit that bottom but I think you touched on that
a little bit. And when you hit that bottom I mean there has to be
a moment you know why why that moment why not an hour earlier why not
a day earlier why not three days later when that moment hits you do you remember
that moment when you eat the Woke up or you had that thought in your head and said
I can't do this anymore for some people you know any mean it is you know
a particular moment you know and I mean I think for me it was just failure after
failure after failure. You know it's even not just with drug related you know every
everybody reaches those moments in life where those you know you know you hit your
rock bottom you know it could be from
a feeling managed it could be from drug addiction it could be from gambling it
could be from whatever device it is that kind of hold you captive you know. But
like I said it's you know it's good for us to have those problems that are bigger
than us you know that was like I said. To face an opponent that was just too strong
for me was the reason that I was willing to look for outside help and I understood
that what I was going through was was superhuman that it was spiritually rooted and
that with human weapons I just couldn't prevail and that's when I really sought
after the Lord's help and I begged for forgiveness and you what did you do when
that moment hit you are now in all emotive hit you what did you do I hit my knees I
gave up I surrendered and you know. Like I said you know sometimes we try to fight
certain battles and win but they're going to be some battles in life that I just
did too strong for us you know and I came to that realisation that I can't do this
I'm not strong enough and I did I hit my knees and out of despair and I asked the
Lord to come into my life in you know to cleanse me forgive me and is just give me
a new life I just was
a broken hurt and soul inside you know and then from there the road to recovery
began how you went into clinic you sought medical help yeah.
Yeah I checked in you know I ended up getting into a detox I did
a halfway house for some time you know I was working the program and I mean I was
just so full and such
a fragile place too I was twenty one but I was so skinny it inside you know it was
I mean I was OK when drugs were in my system but you take that stuff out of me I
was like
a skied kid inside I had no strong identity and you know I was just afraid and you
know and but trying to uphold a person on
a two would not let anybody else know that that's how I felt but that's how I felt
you know when I did the program I did everything I needed to do I get caught some
trouble off my back you know to do what I needed to do I did my means I did my
commitments you know I attended church you know. And it just you know
it's it's been a journey you didn't hear
a powerful powerful statement to me when we were talking you know I had asked you.
How was that struggle between the cravings and the urges and coming off the
addiction and how there was that struggle between the body and the heart in the
mind and you are you in capsulated it is probably crystal clear that
move when you talk to both the three units of the four units and all that is that
you operate on yeah that was one of the clearest things and the most concise things
I ever heard can you go because I really I just wanted to you know with my you know
Christian background and stuff like that you know we wanted to kind of just put
a spin on it and understand that means a three part being you know and it's
a body soul and spirit and how God is the Father the Son in the Holy Grail and even
though we have three we all one unit you know and so you can't just really focus on
the physical you can't just focus on the body without work in the spirit you know
or without working you know the things of your soul that NATO needed that need to
be cleaned up and cleansed so you know to be you know so it's important that you
work on all three you know I think that sometimes people get so hung up on the
physical you know going in the gym or whatever it is you know that they take less
focus off the spiritual and things like that and you need to continue to grow as
a three fold being and how long did it take you to discover that or was that
something through that appears to me that you went through that just kind
manifested on you or you know how did you arrive at that triumvirate of you know
things I had the heart the mind the body the soul and spirit will spirit what the
intellectual knowledge I would say just from you know Bible study in getting to
know you know earlier on in sobriety and stuff like that I focused on me and
getting to know who I was inside and all my character defects and the things that
made me slip and made things that made me fall but once I started to really grow I
want to. To get to know who God was and all his personages and you know so I would
believe that intellectual knowledge of that came from spiritual growth and
intellectual growth you know when when the drugs and all that stuff was out of my
body so I was able to kind of grow now as you were going through this because
obviously before hand when you hit that bottom I mean you would probably lost your
family you know you know all the things that were probably enabling you weren't
there anymore and people separated themselves and distanced themselves for you
along the journey and along that road to recovery how easy or difficult was it for
you to reconnect with the friends that you may have heard of the family members
that may have shunned you and how easy or difficult to balance and Alex I'll
explain it to you. The distance was good at first you know in the distance is good
you know and sometimes we don't want to really be accountable but the distance is
good but it actually helped me to grow out of my box and meet
a whole new variety of people and
a whole new network of people and once I was able to do that and work on myself and
get to where I needed to be people could see that change and once they saw that
changed then they wanted to be more of
a pot of who you are then you know I'm sometimes people don't want to hear language
they they want to see the proof the proof is in the putting And as I would be got
you know began to change and things like that you know friends and family obviously
you want to be around somebody who you know who's got that Spock again and who is
the person you know deep down inside you know so once I started to work on my
network and work on my personal growth I was able to. I have the friends and family
back in my wife and I wasn't toxic to them at that point so as you started
rebuilding your life and obviously that meant you knew you had to start building
a career and getting
a job in putting all of those broken pieces back together and getting your life
back together along their early in even to today. How do you deal with temptation
or do you have temptation. Every man as temptation in any way shape or form I'd be
lying if I said I was completely eradicated from there will never be at least not
here on this earth but you know like I said to you you know it's the things that
keep me going is that I've come and seen how much grace God's given me you know I'm
happily married now I got
a great job and you know seeing the man that I've been able to become because of
God's help and you know my wife and some of the great blessings that I have I mean
I just don't think I could ever go back to something like that I what it is I keep
a how to gratitude by looking at. All the things that I have opposed to the things
that I don't have right I was going to say the members again the way you said it
was so powerful is that when you have that temptation that little switch goes off
in your head and say this is where I am this is where I was and I don't want to be
where I was and it's not it's not just an intellectual understand this very strange
part but you know I do pray you know I mean when I'm gone do you know good times
bad times you know I pray ask for help ask for strength you know like I said I mean
life's just
a tough journey whether drugs is your issue whether any kind of game when a man or
a job whatever it is I mean you know to have gotten involved in your life and to
gain strength from him and to have his blessing in to have his hands upon you you
know he can give you joy he can allow
a love to keep burning in your half your wife he can do those things and you know
having him
a part of my life is the only thing that's kept me you know I don't do anything
special that anybody else hasn't done you know I just you know. I hit my knees I
ask God for help I you know I continue to do things like this and try and help
somebody who's sick and suffer and you know and that's just
a pot part of my life you know let's talk about the six getting back into the ring
you know you get into the back of the ring and then you know along the way you had
a couple of. Couple of heart breaks along the way you know going back
a couple years ago last year and you know you started to get back into the ring and
you wanted to get back and start to build your fighting career talk
a little bit about that little. I was up here that you had i will all be straight
up two thousand and sixteen was the toughest year my life you know I had
a close friend of mine had died from from drugs. And then
a few weeks later I have my nephew died. It just was like two blows I mean you
never the same after something like that you know. I had slipped into
a deep depression you know. I wanted to cash in my chips I wanted to give up you
know it's easy for people to say stay strong and trust God when they're not in
a situation like that and. You know it was it was definitely
a valley you know. That I had gone through you know. Probably one of
the toughest things one of the toughest things I've been through but I was faced
with that decision are you going to roll over and die you know or do you want to
get up and fighting and. I don't I just get too much to live for you know there's
going to be struggles there's going to be deaths not to say that I'll never be the
same again
a huge piece of me is missing but I found some ways to to vindicate. Myself
and to you know to help contribute to what happened you know and to have
a small bit of closure you know August twenty second. Able to any second
forgive me I believe is my next fight and still finalizing things at the promoter
but it's
a very special fight for me because I'm dedicating that fight to my nephew and to
my friend into
a couple of DIA friends of mine that I've lost along the way you know.
These are the trunks that I had gotten made. Here my nephews initials
Mel for you. Rich myth. Chris Kerrigan. Matt
Nick Eakins in the fight will be dedicated to them in the cause of addiction and
we're going to kind of just focus on the recovery aspect of it. But it was
a very special thing and is
a very special thing that I that I wanted to do because it's so personal to me then
I might just basically I'm in it to say that you know addiction is
a very very difficult in to go through for friends family personally it's
a horrible thing and it's very troublesome at times and it's very hard to keep hope
in to keep the faith in times like this I mean it's everybody is affected by it and
it's come on it's like
a tornado coming through your life you're going to take everything from you and rip
your heart out and and but I just I want to let people know that there is hope
there you can have
a victory over this I can't victory through Jesus Christ you can have victory over
your addiction and you can accomplish anything that you want to life you know for
me being able to come back and fight after ten years was
a huge thing for me you know twenty nine now I'm twenty nine now. So you know
you can have victory over this thing in. You know you can accomplish anything you
set your mind to you just got to work on the best advice that I could give the stop
trying to do everything on your own it's OK that it's OK to be weak it's OK to
understand that you're
a human being and you're going to make mistakes and I would say to do what I did
and he needs and ask God to help you to help you through your struggles and to. To
help you in life because you're really we really need and I know why do. You
probably have some personal shout outs that you may want to personally thank anyone
or and your church or any particular people who you might want to give
a shout to out to. Specifically you know in general it's a tough it's
a tough thing because to mention one person and not mention so many others you know
I'm going to kind of keep it at Dal because of respect that you know I had this so
many people that have you know song good seeds along the way that's kind of helped
me to grow you know influential people family members. At different times in
different periods of my growth and journey so to kind of now that down to one
person it would just be kind of it. Whilst Now if people wanted to
learn
a little bit more about you. You're on Facebook you can find you on Facebook they
can Google you and yeah they can follow you yeah yeah and like I said you can find
me on Facebook or come oh come out to support me August twenty second
April twenty second come out to support me and to support recovery to support this
because it's not just a fight it's. It's it's
a movement to support these things you know and to let to let people they know that
we do Aqaba and that you can have victory so very very honored to be very grateful
to do this you know Well Mike you know the the honor is mine and
this touches be pushed and I thank you for it could be good. No problem and
Roxanne Morris who pushed all the buttons and made us look pretty and folks you're
looking at
a human success story and if you have the opportunity to meet this gentleman follow
him on Facebook you will learn something from him so for Roxanne Morse
and Michael wick door Mike Morgan Elliott I am Frank Walsh we'll see you down the
road.